December 2015 - Newsletter

Director’s Message

This is the last newsletter for the year. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching your children grow and develop since last summer. 2016 is shaping up to be an exciting year as we are planning to build a replacement building for Maire and upgrading the Whekī building. I will keep you posted about the progress of these projects.

I hope you all have an enjoyable Christmas with your whānau and a rewarding New Year for 2016. Enjoy a wonderful summer break with your children and safe travels. We look forward to seeing you when you return to Creche in the New Year.

Sue Bennett

Director

Whekī

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to Tyler and his whānau. We look forward to getting to know you and working together in partnership.

Ka Kite to Ben, who has transitioned to Kōwhai, and all the other children and their whānau who are finishing up for the year. This is the last week our teachers get non-contact time, so learning stories will be suspended until February but please feel free to add photos to your child’s Educa account. We love to see what they are up to!

For those of you whose children are with us over the summer, we will be temporarily housed at Kōwhai while our building undergoes some renovations.

Thank you to all those who joined us to celebrate Diwali. It was a great experience for us all to try different cultural foods, and explore the traditional clothing. The children especially enjoyed the rusks, and the adults got to try Chai tea and a variety of Indian sweets.

Kōwhai

Kia Ora.

What a busy time we have had lately. We went on a big bus trip to Bullswool Farm Park. Thank you to all those who came with us. We had a successful trip and the children really enjoyed it. We have had a few children transition to Nīkau and Maire and we look forward to watching them progress in their new centres. We also welcome Ben and Ngaluloa to our Kōwhai whānau.This is the last week that the teachers get non contact so your child’s learning stories will slow down or stop until this starts up again next year. You are welcome to load up your own stories of your holiday ventures. We would love to read them so we can talk to your children about what they have done outside the centre over the holidays.

We are now preparing for the arrival of the Whekī team who will be joining us on Monday, 7 December. If you have any questions please ask a teacher. We are also excited about the arrival of Santa coming this Friday. Come along, relax and enjoy this time. Our children love this event as there is lots happening across all the centres. We have had a few children transition to Nīkau and Maire and we look forward to watching them progress in their new centres. We also welcome Ben and Ngaluloa to our Kōwhai whānau.

We wish you all a fantastic and safe holiday. We look forward to welcoming you all back next year all fresh, relaxed and ready to play and learn.

Nīkau

It has been a busy couple of months in Nīkau and we know the next couple of months will be busy too. We would like to welcome our new families and say goodbye to those who are leaving. Some are returning in March when the new semester starts. We look forward to seeing you all when you come back. We are enjoying the warmer weather and the tamariki love having water play on a more regular basis. Please bring named spare clothing so children have something dry to put on after they have got wet.

We held our fish and chip evening a few weeks ago to officially say goodbye to Becky and to welcome David to the team. We had a huge whānau turnout and this was our biggest family event by far. It was a great opportunity for everyone to meet other parents, relax and talk with one another at the end of a busy day. Thanks to everyone who joined us on this very successful evening.

Recently we had an awesome trip to Hamilton Zoo. The weather was perfect, and the children enjoyed exploring the zoo and seeing all of the different animals. The children were able to watch the giraffes being fed which meant they came relatively close to us. For some tamariki this was the highlight of their excursion. We were well supported with 12 parents coming along and we really appreciate all of your support. Thank you for all your help during the day.

Preparations are well underway for the Christmas party. We have started making Christmas presents with your children. If you have not let us know you are coming please do so ASAP so that your child doesn’t miss out.

Maire

“Kia ora Maire whanau”

On Friday, 30 October we celebrated Black Out Day. All the tamariki and kaiako came in their black clothes to support the All Blacks in their final for the Rugby World Cup. We had the windows blacked out, black kai and black water. We played a few games using the rugby ball and just had an awesome time.

Wow this month has gone really fast! We would like to take this moment to say a big “Nau Mai” to our new tamariki, Emmie, Nicholas, Josefa, Waimirirangi and their whānau. We hope your Maire days are full of fun and happiness and we can’t wait to meet you all.

On 4 November, Priscilla and Sarah took a group of tamariki to the airport to see all the aeroplanes. The tamariki found a place to sit and have lunch while they watched the aeroplanes fly in and out.

On 11 November, Rangi, Mel, Megan and one of our parents took a group of our tamariki to Little Waihi in Makatu. We spent time playing in the water, having a picnic and gathering pipi. It was a beautiful day and the water was warm. We have had two very nice students here at Maire getting to know your tamariki and the tamariki have really enjoyed their company, so thank you Marliese and Diva.

Lastly I would like to say a big “Hari Huritau” to all the pepe born in Whiringa-ā-rangi

Kia pai to ra, kaiako o Maire

Kauri

Kia ora Whanau,

Over the month of November we have been finishing up our Ngahere programme for the year and taking a few spontaneous trips. We took a small group of children out to Jenny Dutton’s farm to visit the animals and ride on the horses. The children had a great time and loved feeding the goats, horses and piglets as well as giving the dogs a cuddle.

Another group visited the Hamilton Gardens and explored the many different styles of gardens on offer there. We also had a group visit Silverdale Normal Primary School to see the new entrants class and experience some of what they do there.

We have also been enjoying some camp fire cooking, making rice pudding and cooking sausages. We take these opportunities to teach the children about fire safety as well as cooking.

We have recently introduced a slack line to our playground to offer challenge and opportunities to practice and develop the children’s balance.

Currently we are preparing for our Christmas party, getting the children to make gifts and practicing our singing for our performance. If you haven’t let us know if you will be attending can you please do this ASAP so we can be prepared. We look forward to this opportunity to celebrate the year with you.

We hope to see you there.

Christmas Party 2015

Our annual children’s Christmas Party will be on Friday, 4 December commencing at 5.30 pm.

For new parents this is a “not to be missed” occasion, with Santa in attendance along with many other exciting activities. The children, parents and teachers thoroughly enjoy this. There will be yummy food and spot prizes.